Congratulations to Christel Ferguson, winner of the $1,000 James Northcutt Scholarship Award!

Christel Ferguson is one of those students who set out in life on one path only to realize that her true passion is interior design. “I had the eye for design,” Christel discovered, “but not the knowledge to back it up.” So she jumped paths and enrolled in the Interior Design Certificate program at UCLA Extension—and could not be happier! “I thought I would take a class or two in interior design at UCLA Extension to see if it was a good fit for me,” she stated, “I was hooked after my first class with Eleanor Schrader and now plan to finish the certificate program.”

The final project in Eleanor’s Fundamentals of Interior Architecture class involves students creating presentation boards based on an interior designer or architect that has inspired them over the past quarter. Christel chose to do her project on one of the guest speakers from the class, Jonathon Fong. “It was so fun to put the project together. When I found out later that I won the James Northcutt Scholarship it confirmed, for me, that I’m on the right path.”

Christel’s advice for anyone who is thinking about taking classes in interior design is to just jump right in and start. “You never know until you try it,” she states, “I have learned so much in such a short amount of time.”

The James R. Northcutt Scholarship for Beginning Students is a $1,000 tuition credit that is granted to one student each quarter who completes the Fundamentals of Interior Architecture course. The award is based upon the caliber of work demonstrated in required class projects. To find out if you are eligible for this scholarship or others, please see the Arc+ID Scholarships and Financial Aid information page.